Crushed and ReCreated
by liveforthefight
Summary: When Payson kisses Sasha in the Rock, what happens next? Especially when a storm rears it's ugly head?  Beginnings of Payson/Sasha, AU in that respect. Complete for now, but status may change if I'm convinced to continue. Rating for safety and language.


A/N: Okay, I've spent all day reading MIOBI fics, and I've run out of the type of fic I want to read right now. So I decided to write instead.

*Payson*

I had just finished my floor routine flawlessly. It was as good as I had ever felt on the apparatus, including when I was at my prime before my fall. Sasha swept me up in his arms and without knowing specifically what I was doing I put my lips to his. I had no excuse. Just that I was acting on the feelings that had been brewing inside me since the night of the awards where Sasha told me that he would believe in the dream for me and not let me stray from the path that was destined for me. At first he relaxed, then I found my lips were met with resistance, so I pulled away immediately.

Sasha looked astounded "Payson!" he half yelled, but I was already running. I grabbed my bag and ran out of the Rock, forgetting for a minute the torrential downpour that was going on right outside. As I hit the grass I tripped, felt a horrible pain in my leg, then everything went black.

*Sasha*

I don't really know what happened. One minute we were celebrating the successful and astounding completion of Payson's floor routine, the next I felt her soft lips on mine just as I had dreamed they would since I saw her on TV her first junior nationals.

It was then though that I realized how wrong it was, and that the training camera was still running. Though at first I relaxed into the kiss that I desired so much, I tensed up and she pulled away instantly, I'm sure feeling the change in the tone of our kiss.

"Payson…" I half shouted, astounded at the turn of events. She turned and ran, grabbing her bag and running right out the door of the Rock. I chased after her, wanting to clear the air and also remembering the raging storm. I didn't have to run far however. I exited the rock and saw the heart wrenching image of my girl unconscious in the grass, the downpour leaving her soaked and looking even more miserable.

I sprinted over to her and kneeled beside her, not daring to move her in case she had somehow damaged her spine again. I shouted at her until she began to stir. She immediately started to sit up but I pushed her back down.

*Payson*

I came to to the sound of Sasha shouting my name. Oh great. Now I looked like a pathetic damsel in distress on top of making a move on my coach, acting on feelings that he clearly didn't return. I immediately tried to sit up so I could run and keep running, but he pushed me back down.

"Payson can you hear me?"

I nodded, not quite ready to speak, simply unable to find my voice.

*Sasha*

She looked so weak lying there, and she still hadn't spoken. "Can you say something? Anything? How do you feel?"

"I'm fine" she said with the same conviction she had nearly a year ago when her back injury had first begun to flare up. Her bravery always astounded me.

" Now can you tell me what day of the week it is?" I was truly concerned, I didn't know what kind of injuries she had sustained, but first I had to determine if there was a concussion.

She appeared to think for a moment. "Uhm… It's…uhh Thursday."

"That's good. That's really good. Now track my fingers" I moved my fingers in front of her eyes and she followed them.

"Okay, you can cross your eyes. That's good. Now can you feel your arms?"

"Yeah." She wiggled them gingerly. "They're okay."

"No pain?" She shook her head. "That's great. What about your legs? I'm really concerned about your legs, the way you fell."

She moved all the joints in her legs and winced. "I'm fine." I was glad to see that she could move all of her limbs, at least the fear of paralysis was gone, but she clearly wasn't fine.

"Payson, you don't have to be fine. You don't have to put on a brave face. What's wrong?"

"My ankle…"

I looked at her, and saw the pain in her face. "Okay, let's get you up, we'll figure out how bad it is." I gave her my hand, and miraculously she took it, and leaned on me, letting me help her up.

*Payson*

I stood up and tried to put weight on my ankle, still leaning partially on Sasha. I yelped and started to fall sideways, only to find myself in strong arms.

"Okay, we're going to get you inside and into the trainer's room, I'll check it out in there. There's no point in having you catch hypothermia out here." He scooped me up bridal style and carried my bag and I back into the Rock, through the main hall and into the training room where he set me down gently on one of the tables. There he peeled my sopping wet shoe and sock off as gingerly as he could and began to examine my ankle.

After a while of being poked and prodded I drifted off into my own world, coming back only when Sasha called my name. "Well, the good news is I don't think it's broken. The bad news is this isn't going to be fun to train on for the next week or so. In fact, I don't want you to train at all during that time."

I immediately began to protest "I have to train, I've got to continue my comeback! I'm just now beginning to feel like myself again. I don't have time to sit around and let my body change even more than it already…" I trailed off, remembering what had happened not an hour before due to my newly raging hormones.

Sasha smirked, seemingly enjoying my awkwardness. "Yeah, puberty's a bitch. Listen, Payson, don't you think we should talk about what happened between us?"

"Uhm… Is there anything to say? I apologize for being so forward. Can we just pretend it never happened since you clearly don't feel the same way, and just let me get over it?"

*Sasha*

I was totally shocked. "Payson how do you possibly believe that I don't feel the same way? I care a lot about you, and more than just as a gymnast… It just isn't appropriate, especially not considering you're trying to make it to the Olympics. We need the national committee to do that, and you and I both know how much Ellen Beals would love to dig something up on me that was good enough to get me kicked out of the gym.

"Sasha, I would never want to endanger your position here, but I would follow you anywhere you needed or wanted to go. You're the only person who still believes in me, and you're the only person who can help me get to the Olympics now. I need you. I need you as a coach and I need you as more than a coach."

I looked at her, pleading with me. I had never seen her look so broken, so desperate. Not when she was begging me to let her compete in the Denver invitational, or when she asked me in a tiny voice if I thought her career really was over, or when she was trying to decide whether or not to have the surgery, not even when she lost her path afterwards and was so opposed to being an artistic gymnast that she was ready to throw everything away again to avoid it. Not once did she cry, but now there were small tears running down her face until the dam broke completely and she was bawling on the trainer's table.

"We'll work something out. I promise I won't leave you, and that if nothing else you and I can be together after the Olympics, if you'll still have me."

"Of course I will. I can accept that for now. Thank you."

"No Payson, Thank you for being brave enough to take the step that I never dared to take. Now about that ankle… I guess you can train if you promise to manage your pain, put ice on it before and after practice, and keep it wrapped for the next week. That is if you can walk on your own."

She nodded eagerly. I wrapped up her ankle with supplies in the cabinet below the table and helped her down. She stood without problem with the help of the added stability. "Are you alright now?" I asked gently.

"I will be…" she paused "as soon as I do this." She gently pressed her lips to mine once again, this time I responded appropriately, with all the passion and vigor I could muster. When the kiss was broken for lack of oxygen she responded again "Yes."

"Let's get you home then. I'm sure your mother will be concerned."

"Erm… What's my story? Because I certainly didn't sprain my ankle and bump my head running away from my coach who I had just kissed and then eventually ended up professing my love for…"

I passed over her comment about love, trying not to let her know how much it affected me. "You fell off the beam. An EMT checked you and gave you the okay to keep training, with the aforementioned conditions. I'll verify that with your mother tomorrow if she'd like."

"Okay, thank you again."

"My pleasure."

A/N: Well, that's it. For now. MWAHAHAHAA. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue or not. Maybe some reviews would convince me one way or the other? *hint hint*


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